Monofilament and fabric made thereby



Nov. 12, 1957 L. s'rEvENs 2,812,782

MONOEILAMNT AND FABRIC MADE THEREBY Filed Feb. 10, 1955 y F'IGJ INVENTCFQ.Y LESLIE STEVENS @gli l ATTORNEYS tion thereof in connection United States Patent O 2,812,782 MoNoFILAMENT AND FABRIC MADE THEREBY Leslie Stevens, Nelson, Lanes, England, assignorto Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation, New Brunswick, N. J., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 1o, 195s, serial No. 487,389

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 29, 1955 7 Claims. (Cl. 139-420) This invention relates to a novel filament of synthetic material and to a fabric woven partially or wholly of the same. Thetfabric of this invention may be used in many ways. Some of the particular uses to which it may be put to advantage are: as an upholstery cloth, such as has been used extensively for automobile seat covering material and the like; as lining fabrics or shirting material in the wearing apparel field; as fabrics for shoes, millinery, handbags, etc.; as a utility cloth for pipe coverings and other wrapping and lining purposes; and as material `for window shades, lamp shades and other general decorative trim purposes. This listing is not intended to be allinclusive, but rather to indicate the wide variety `of applications for which the fabric may be adapted both from a `decorative as well as a utilitarian standpoint.

An object of the invention is to provide a new type of fabric forming filament for Weaving fabrics and specifically a monofilament, fiat or elliptical in cross section, of synthetic material, and characterized by a novel formation of kinks disposed at random along the length of the monolilament and imparted thereto by a series of irregularly angled twisted portions.

A further object is to provide an improved fabric for the above and other purposes having an attractive, somewhat pebbly or nubby surface formed by a haphazard spacing of kinks in the filaments and an irregularly disposed angular relationship of adjacent portions of the filament. The filaments may serve either as the warp or weft or both, and fabrics made according to the invention sometimes having a general appearance suggestive of a boucle type of woven fabric.

The above and other specific objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following descripwith the accompanying drawings, in which, t t i i Fig. 1 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of a small swatch of the new fabric with the weft filaments made according to this invention;

Fig.` 2 is a similar fragmentary view of the new fabric having both warp and weft filaments formed according to the invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a short length of a new monofilament showing the disposition of the kinks and p nature of the twists formed therein; and

Fig. 4 is a more or less diagrammatic View to illustrate the manner in which kinking may be imparted to a monofilament.

Broadly speaking the present invention resides in the formation of a unique monofilament of synthetic mate-V rial having a fiat or elliptical cross sectional shape and characterized by a series of haphazardly angled and irregularly spaced twisted portions formed therein to impart random localized kinks in the filament. When woven into a fabric the kinks of the filaments give a nubby appearance and feel to the fabric.

In the drawings a single monofilament 1 is shown by Fig. 3. This filament, as indicated, is uniformly flat 2,812,782 Patented Nov. 12, 19757 in cross sectionthroughout its length. It is initially made up in the liattenediform according to conventional practices from a synthetic thermoplastic resin material. The plastic materials from which the filament may be made are well known.` They are waterproof and chemically resistant, tough and liexible, and are commercially available in filament form. One such material, for example, is available under the trade name Saran, referring to the cop olymer of vinyl chloride and vinylidine chloride. Other plastic materials having similar properties may also be used.

It may be noted from Fig. 3 that the new monoflament is twisted to form a localized kinking at irregularly spaced points along its length. As shown, the portion indicated at 2 is turned with respect to the portion at 3, and the portion at 4 is turned with relation to both portions 3 Each portion may be unequal in length with respect to each of its next adjacent portions and furthermore the angular relationship is of a nonuniform character as will appear in comparing portions 2 and 4f with portion 3. The various portions, as described, have been crowded into the illustration of Fig. 3 to emv phasize the irregular and random nature of the twisting and kinking in a single filament. It will be understood the various portions enumerated may be of a greater length than `those shown. In other words the filaments 1, as will be realized from an inspection of Fig. l, may be twisted only once or twice along a length of hlament equal to that of Fig. 3.

The twisting may be imparted to the filament in a number of ways. One such way is to draw the fiat filament fover end from a form on which it has been wound in the regular way, as for example, on a bobbin, spool or similar package. The filament is thus Withdrawn in a direction generally parallel to the axis of the winding, that is laterally and substantially at right angles to the direction of the winding. Thus when a length of filament equal `to the circumference of the wound filament is with drawn, the filament is twisted one complete turn. The twisting action during this type of withdrawing operation kinks the filament and results in a permanently twisted pair of adjacent portions. By a permanent twist in the Aand remain in the filament in the absence of any positive application of forces intended to reverse the twist and erasethekink.

The diagrammaticsliowing of Fig. 4l with. a spool form 6 and a withdrawn portion of filament 1 directed over end through an eye 7 is for purposes of illustration. It will be readily appreciated that any known mechanism for twisting filaments may be used such as the conventional twisters of the textile art.

In the twisting of the monofilament 1 the fiattened cross sectional `shape thereof appears to be a principal factor in obtaining 'a well defined permanent kink with the portions adjacent thereto being angularly related. In twisting monofilaments of circular cross section the twisting forces are distributed essentially uniformly along the length of the thread. No observable twists or kinks are imparted to a circular filament, nor can any deformation of the material be detected by feeling the same. When used in a fabric no observable decorative effect is achieved by twisted circular filaments. However, with the flattened cross sectional shape, as will be evident from Fig. 3, the kinks and twisted portions can obviously be seen and can definitely be felt between the fingers. A unique decorative effect is thus obtainable in the fabric, see Fig. 1. By the simple method of obtaining a twist as described, the kinks are irregularly located with the angular relationship between adjacent portions appearing to be either at 90, at 180 or somewhere between those two limits. Where the angular relationship is at 90 or slightly greater, the surface ofthe fabric (especially when the monofilaments are used as thefilling, see Fig. l) will be slightly ridged? to give a rough feel to the woven material and a different contrasting appearance in the area where the apparent a great variety of different visual effects may be achieved by the numberof twists given to each filament and the arrangement of monofilaments in the finished Yfabric material.

As mentioned, Fig. l shows a fabric in which the new monofilaments 1 have been used as the filling. Fig. 2

illustrates the use of filaments 1 in both warp and weft. ln Fig. l the warp comprises continuous filament viscose rayon threads as at 10. The nature and variety of possible combinations are thus practically without limit.

In weaving the fabric, as will also be appreciated by vthose skilled in the weaving art, an additional twist may 'be imparted to a monofilament by shuttle movement and the withdrawal of the filament from a suitable quill. An over end withdrawal from a quill imparts a twist after the manner of the twisting illustrated by Fig. 4. Thus 'when used as filling the additional twist of the flat filament in the weaving operation may be taken into account in forming a particular fabric and planning the number of preliminary withdrawing operations necessary to obtain the desired kinked character of the filament. According to the present invention a wide variety of novel, ornamental, and esthetic effects may thus be achieved.

What is claimed is: l. As a new article of manufacture a monoiilament vhaving a iiattened cross sectional shape and disposed along its length a plurality of irregularly spaced twisted kinks, the kinks being localized at random with twisted areas of successive kinks being of varying angularity and the portions between adjacent kinks lying in varying planes.

2. As a new article of manufacture a monofilament having a flattened cross sectional shape with a plurality of irregularly spaced kinks disposed at random along its length, said kinks being formed by localized helically twisted sections of the monofilament with fiat portions Vwarp filaments embrace the edges of the monofilament therebetween, the twisted portions of the successive kinks being of varying angularity and the successive flat portions lying in varying planes.

3. As a new article of manufacture a monofilament comprising the copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinylidine chloride and having a flattened cross sectional shape with a successionof haphazardly angled twisted sections forming kinked portions at irregularly spaced intervals longitudinally of the length thereof, the portions between said kinked portions being of greater length than the said twisted sections and lying in varying planes.

4. A woven fabric having thermoplastic fabric forming monofilamets of a fiattenedrcross sectional shape with a plurality of kinks twisted at random alo-ng the length of the monofilament, the kinds being localized haphazardly with oppositely twisted areas of the successive kinks being of varying angularity and the portions between said twisted areas lying in Varying planes.

5. A fabric of warp and weft filaments with the filaments forming one of said types being of synthetic thermoplastic material and in the form of monofilaments characterized by a iattened cross sectional shape with a plurality of irregularly disposed kinks having twisted portions of varying angular relationships along the length thereof with fiat portions between said twisted portions of the successive kinks lying in varying planes and imparting nubby surface characteristics to the feel and appearance of said fabric.

6. A woven fabric simulating the nubby surface characteristics of a boucle type woven fabric and having at least the weft thereof comprising thermoplastic filaments, fiattened in cross section, and helically twisted haphazardly at random locations along the length thereof with fiat portions therebetween, the successive twisted portions being of varying angularity and of less length than the fiat portions and the successive fiat portions lying in varying planes.

7. A woven fabric comprising a warp having continu- Vous filament viscose rayon threads and a weft having the portions between adjacent twisted areas lying in varying planes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Mendel May 21, 1935 

